3 Jailed In Carjacking

1 Suspect Sought

December 2, 1992|By Henry Pierson Curtis And Jim Leusner of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE — Three Polk County men associated with a gang called ''The Jack Boys'' have been charged in connection with last weekend's carjacking that ended in two execution-style slayings in an Osceola County pasture.

Osceola Sheriff Jon Lane said late Tuesday that one of the three, 19-year-old Jermine Alexander Foster, admitted that he pulled the trigger, methodically shooting and killing two Osceola County youths and leaving a third for dead. All three gave ''complete and thorough confessions,'' Lane said.

FOR THE RECORD - **************************** LIBRARIAN'S NOTE ******************************The names of two of the suspects in the carjacking have been misspelled in some pieces. The correct spellings are: Jermaine Foster and Leondra Henderson. ****************************************************************************

''I don't think they're showing remorse at all. It was one big game for them,'' the sheriff said.

The arrests began Tuesday morning after the Osceola County Sheriff's Office charged Alf Catholic, 21, of Winter Haven, with grand theft of an automobile.

Catholic, who was picked up Monday night when he visited a former girlfriend in Kissimmee, began cooperating with investigators by early Tuesday, sheriff's Cmdr. Jack Pate said. Catholic was charged with murder late Tuesday.

The other two suspects, who were arrested in Polk County, are expected to be charged with murder after they are transferred to Osceola County today, Lane said. A fourth suspect is being sought in Polk County.

Catholic is accused of driving a truck that was carjacked Saturday from Polk County to Osceola County. There, police say, it was used Sunday to rear-end a Nissan Pathfinder whose four occupants were abducted at gunpoint and driven to a pasture 10 miles south of Kissimmee.

Anthony Faiella, 17, of Kissimmee, and Anthony Clifton, 20, of St. Cloud, were forced to strip in the pasture and were shot in the backs of their heads. A third victim, Michael Rentas, 20, survived by playing dead after a bullet fired at his head hit him in the hand.

Tammy George, a friend of Clifton, was forced to watch the executions and was then released unharmed.

The arrests cheered Faiella's parents.

''I hope the Osceola County prosecutor goes after the death penalty,'' Alfred Faiella said. ''I believe in 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' I lost my son.''

By midmorning Tuesday, investigators in Polk County began rounding up suspects identified by Catholic.

Leondre Lamont ''Manny Boy'' Henderson, 17, was picked up in Auburndale and charged with armed robbery, kidnapping and three counts of aggravated assault in connection with Saturday's carjacking, said Kim Nichols, a spokeswoman for the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

Foster was charged with the same crimes after deputies found him Tuesday evening in an Auburndale apartment, Nichols said.

Both suspects were being held on $1 million bail in Polk County. Catholic is being held without bail in Osceola County.

A fourth suspect, Gerard Ron Booker, 22, remained at large late Tuesday, but 40 Polk County deputies were searching for him in 20 locations. With the exception of Booker, investigators believe everyone who participated in the Osceola County carjacking and shootings has been arrested.

Rentas and George originally had said five or six gunmen were involved. Pate said authorities believe they were mistaken.

The three men arrested Tuesday are associated with a group called The Jack Boys, Polk County Sheriff Lawrence Crow said.

''I don't know if there's any correlation between their name and carjacking,'' Crow said. ''It's going to take a little more work until we find out exactly who The Jack Boys are.''

Crow said Foster and Catholic both have felony convictions on drug, burglary and theft charges.

Racism was ruled out Tuesday as a motive for the killings, authorities said.

''It was a cold-blooded killing,'' said Ed Bodigheimer, head of Orlando's FBI office. ''We have no indication of racial overtones.''

The FBI joined the case because carjacking became a federal crime in October.

Racism had been mentioned by police as a possible motive because the three shooting victims were white, and George, who is black, was released by the killers, who also are black.

Lane said late Tuesday, however, that the suspects said they did not harm George because ''they weren't going to do a sister.''

He said the suspects told investigators they shot the three men because one of the suspects accidentally blurted out Jermine Foster's name as the victims lay in the pasture.

Bodigheimer and other investigators believe the suspects decided to take Faiella's Nissan Pathfinder because their stolen Ford pickup truck was overheating.

The suspects met the victims at The Royal Palm bar in St. Cloud, where witnesses said some of the suspects were acting ''strange,'' investigators said.

Analysts with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found fingerprints, hair fibers, footprints and a hiking boot inside the vehicles. Among the items taken from the stolen pickup were two dozen 9 mm bullets, cassette tapes and cigarette rolling papers.